Final Presentation #6

Following the 12 week summer program I was involved in, all participants had to present 15 minute presentations to fellow SURF members, participants of other summer programs, lab mentors and physicians, as well as the directors of the physiology department at the medical school. I have presented short project overviews to fellow lab members, or even class projects in the past, however, this presentation seemed more intimidating to me. I was eager to hear about what other kinds of research other students had been working on all summer, but I was nervous to compile all that I’d worked on this summer and present it in a cohesive informative way to my peers. I often feel that presenting to strangers is less intimidating to people that I have close relationships with, so the thought of presenting work to fellow students I had formed relationships with as well as my fellow lab members and PI was a scary thought. I’m very thankful that I had such a wonderful lab that was encouraging, allowed me to practice my presentation in front of them, and give useful feedback.

Working to present data in a both aesthetically pleasing and clear way was something that I learned more about throughout the process of creating the presentation and going through the data collected over the past few weeks, and something that I think will be very useful to me in the future. Also working to have proper notes that I could use when necessary, that were informative about the project was something that took a lot of time to construct.

The presentation was a totally different experience than working in the lab each day and it was much different talking about my work than actually doing it in lab each day. It allowed me to reflect on the project, further understand the background behind what I was studying, things that my mentor and I realized we should have done differently, and what direction we should take with the project in the future. Lucky for me, I will be able to continue my work with this lab during my senior year and continue to build relationships with lab members while conducting research. In the end, my presentation went really well despite how nervous I was. I knew that I had prepared a lot and that helped me feel more comfortable in that position. I think it was a great learning experience to top off the end of the program, and I am very thankful to have had this opportunity.

2 thoughts on “Final Presentation #6”

Congrats on wrapping up your internship, and I love reading your blogs!

This is also my first summer in Ann Arbor away from home, so I resonate with a lot of things that you said! I definitely agree that having some me-time is so helpful and eases the mind greatly. Without the hustle of the busy environment during the school year, we can really just sit down and contemplate about our growth and change over the year, the things we did, and reset goals and priorities. When we are tackling with stress from multiple sources, we may forget about what really matters to us and just keep checking off task after task. Mapping out a loose schedule to accommodate different time commitments and having a helicopter view of things that are about to come make going into senior year so much less overwhelming. I’m glad you had the time to think about your gap year, and found a clearer vision of what you wish for in a career and graduate school. However, don’t feel like you need to have all the answers by now. Senior year may fly by, but we are indefinitely exploring and learning new things about ourselves, and sometimes, we may be pleasantly surprised by decisions made unexpectedly!

Great job on the final presentation- you deserve all the encouragement and positive feedback! It’s such a great wrap to your summer with SURF, and I love what you said about asking questions. A mentor once told me, there are really no bad questions in a learning environment, and more often than we think, other people have the exact same questions we were wondering about. Asking questions and being curious also shows you care, and are eager to broaden your horizons!

Thank you for sharing Jessica! I wish you the best of luck with your senior year, and finding your path in research! We would love for you to stop by the LSA Opportunity Hub, be it to explore your options for graduate school, finding research opportunities, planning your gap year or just needing a large quiet space to study! We will definitely connect you with a SURF student if we come across someone. Enjoy the last days of summer and I hope you get a good rest!

Jessica,
Thanks for sharing about the internship experience this summer! I want to acknowledge that with this post you’ve met the six blog requirement for the scholarship. I hope that you’ll have a chance to stop by the Hub this fall. We can chat about how you represent your experience on your resume, LinkedIn, or even in future interviews! Please let us know how we can be of help.